ASA Agrees: PETA Can Take Parents to Task for Feeding Kids Meat

Are parents who feed their children meat committing child abuse? PETA thinks so, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agrees that we can continue to place ads expressing this point of view.

After PETA erected a billboard warning parents that “feeding kids meat is child abuse” in Easington – which was recently named the “fattest town” in England — the ASA received complaints from butchers and other groups with a vested interest in promoting meat-eating, including the National Farmers’ Union and the International Meat Trade Association Incorporated. But after a thorough review, the ASA ruled that PETA can go forward with our ad.

In response to complaints that PETA’s ad was “offensive”, the ASA stated, “While we recognised that some viewers would find the text used in the ad inappropriate, we understood that PETA had intended to convey that, in their opinion, feeding meat to children, and thereby exposing them to potentially harmful influences, was tantamount to abuse”.

The Obesity Epidemic
Obesity rates are going up faster in the UK than they are in neighbouring European countries. Kids in the UK are among the heaviest in the world – one out of three is overweight. In 2003 alone, 746,662 boys and 675,983 girls between the ages of 2 and 15 were considered obese.

Considering that children in the UK are getting fatter faster than at any other time in our history, these numbers are only expected to increase. A recent Department of Health report on obesity projects that in 2010, 792,321 boys and a staggering 910,630 girls between the ages of 2 and 15 will suffer from obesity.

The situation has become so desperate that a report issued by the House of Commons recommended that free fruit be provided in schools in an effort to trim the fat from students’ ever-expanding waistlines. When our children camp out in front of the television, they are seduced by advertisements for meat and dairy foods aimed specifically at their age group. Although your little darlings may scream out for cheesy pizza and KFC now, they’ll be screaming in earnest later when they’re too fat to tie their own shoelaces.

As a parent, you want your children to live full, productive and happy lives. So isn’t it about time you stopped feeding them a diet which leads them down the path of misery, morbid obesity and playground mockery? Stuffing your kids full of burgers and bangers will not only make them fat and lethargic — it may also set them up for a host of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and several types of cancer. In fact, kids as young as 3 have shown signs of clogged arteries!

No Fairy Tale Ending for Animals on Farms
Children are inherently drawn to animals. They would be appalled to learn that each year in the UK, more than 900 million mammals and birds — and countless fish – are killed for food, and millions more die from stress, suffocation, injuries or disease in the food industry.

In his or her lifetime, the average British meat-eater is responsible for the abuse and deaths of approximately 760 chickens, 46 turkeys, 29 sheep, 20 pigs, 15 ducks, five cows and more than 1,000 fish. From the moment they are born to the time of their death, animals raised for food are subjected to fear, pain and suffering in animal factories. Intensively bred and housed, animals are confined to cramped quarters in extremely unnatural conditions. Chickens often have their sensitive beaks cut off with a hot wire, cows have their babies stolen from them and pigs have been scalded to death. Because of modern slaughter methods, many animals are not rendered unconscious before they are hung upside down to have their throats cut and be bled to death.

No parent wants their child to end up dangerously obese. Help fight the fat by feeding your kids a plant-based diet. Order our free “Vegetarian Starter Kit”, watch “Meet Your Meat” and then ask yourself if you’d allow your children to watch it. If the truth about meat is too gruesome to share with your children, isn’t feeding them meat too gruesome a habit to continue?

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